07 February 2006

Live Blog: Coretta Scott King Funeral

1440 The moment that everyone has been waiting for: America's first black president, AKA William Jefferson Clinton. To call his reception a standing ovation would be an understatement; this type of thundering applause is generally reserved for divas at opening nights of the Met, or, for presidential nominees at the convention. Which is how many in the church look at him.

"Four more years!" is the chant from the choir and balconies. President Clinton gets real country with the audience—which is why we love him. "Now y'all be quiet now, you might not like what I have to say." He pleads with the audience to be remember the past but work for future generations. "The Census Dept, says they got more middle class black folk in this here county and Montgomery County, Maryland than anywhere in the country. So. What are you going to do about the King Center?" We luv ya, Bill. ;)

1429 President Jimmy Carter speaks and also gets a standing ovation by acknowledging the Democratic Party's debt to black voters. "If it weren't for the Voting Right Act and Civil Rights Act ... it's likely that I never would have left the state of Georgia."

1425Maya Angelou at the pulpit. "Martin Luther King was assasinated on my birthday. For the past forty years, Coretta and I have called each other on that day, sent cards, or met if we happened to be in the same city. And we'd always talk like we were teenagers. 'Girl, what have you been up to?' Even though we both are into our 7th decades, we always called each other girl. It's a sistah thang."

1410 Okay, we should have known that Rev. Lowery would turn out the service. He is reading from a wonderful poem ("I'm no Maya Angelou") which we won't even destroy by paraphrasing, but he talks about the lives of Coretta, Martin, the nation, 9/11 and "the fact tha we now know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but weapons of massive deconstruction here at home, people starving." The man gets a total standing ovation and the congregation is showering praise and admiration. The Clintons, Carters and former President Bush are laughing. President and Laura Bush are also smiling.

1403Rev. Joseph Lowery at the pulpit.

1354 Rep. John Conyers speaks. His eulogy is poignant and he notes that CSK, MLK and Rosa Parks have all departed. "These are three symbols of humanity's ability to transcend and transform."

1345Senator Ted Kennedy quotes from the Book of Proverbs. (31:10?) "Where can you find a virtuous woman, her price is far above rubies." He receives rousing applause and a huge standing ovation when he mentions CSK's historic telephone call to JFK and RFK for help when MLK was sentenced to prison in 1959. "My brother Bobby called the judge and thank God the judge saw the light." Hear, hear.

1330Dorothy Height speaks. She is a living legend, the president of the National Council of Negro Women and the last person to head an organization that worked with MLK. However, she reminds everyone to look to the future: "I've done my part, Coretta did her part, but what are you going to do?"

1325 Jelani Cobb mentions CSK's commitment to lgbt rights. "It often put her at odds with the black church but she wanted all black Americans to accept gay and lesbian rights as human rights."

1302 President George W. "We gather in God's house, in God's presence to honor Coretta Scott King. I come today to offer the sympathy of our entire nation. We knew Coretta in all the seasons of her life." His eulogy is short and sweet, only lasting five minutes.

1301 Bishop Long introduces President Bush.

1239 Dexter, Bernice, Martin Luther III and Yolanda King arrive.

1237 Bill Clinton walks in to thunderous applause. President Bush and the First Lady walk down the aisle and the response is not so muted. Former PresidentsGeorge H. Bush and Carter are also here. It's a rare occasion to gather four presidents.

1230 Joseph Lowery, Andrew Young and T.D. Jakes are on stage. Televangelist Dr. Robert H. Schuller joins. Earl Graves is providing commentary with Kyra Phillips and points out several names and faces that she may not know, but she is doing okay.

1205: The funeral has not begun. Kyra Phillips interviews Earl Graves live via sat from NYC and William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman and pop culture phenom. Strong interview: Graves was on a plane with Robert F. Kennedy when MLK was assasinated. Phillips reminisces about her high school years "in a certain state" and says that black history and the civil rights struggle were never mentioned. She won't say where this was, but "it was an Eastern state." (She doesn't need to say where; she makes her point and it was great disclosure.) A few technical problems: A few minutes in, they lost the video with Graves so we only had his audio. Still, a strong interview.

JAKES: [She touched] everyone ...all persons, all colors, races, creeds ... sexual orientations. It's obvious in the diversity of the people who have come to honor her.

HARRIS: Which also seems to speak to what Dr. King talked about, this idea of a beloved community.

JAKES: Yes it does and she is a remarkable woman to have maintained the mission of her husband. I once talked to her over lunch and asked her how she was able to do what she did. She said, 'I felt called to be his wife as he was called to do what he did.' "

The irony in Jakes' statement is that by including "sexual orientation" as among that "beloved community", he tacitly endorsed gays as deserving the fruits and protections of the civil rights struggle. Or, maybe that was just semantics.

1120 The funeral program is very extensive and will include presidents, politicians, celebrities and activists.

Comments

Do you have a screen shot of GWB at 1:16 PM on CNN reading through a magazine or something while the mayor of Atlanta was talking. It was rather disturbing that him and Mrs. Bush weren't even listening.

My hope is that some of the people eulogizing Mrs.King who have opposed gay rights in general and turned their backs to acknowlege the identity and contributions of black gays specifically will wake up! Mrs. King carried on her husband's work of equality for all people, not for some people.

Rosa Parks, now Coretta Scott King, an era, the symbols of an era, the activism of era has passed. I am a little worried. I fear complacency because we still have a ways to go. I cannot say with confidence we are there yet because while things have changed significantly, they have not changed completely (a barometor within the gay community is the racism ,AND, the low self-esteem and self-hate among a number black American and Latino American men of African descent who feel "white is right" in whatever context).

Great recap... I'd really like to hear your take on the eulogy that Bernice King delivered. I realize that there are some "differences of opinion" concerning the "King camp" vs. the "Operation New Birth" camp.

I personally agree with Bernice King in all she had to say. I thought it to be a powerful statement of both truth and love. More than anything, I belive that she underscored the question... WHAT WILL YOU DO? That so frequently we heard echoed through the various speaches.

Oh, I wish, how I WISH Black people would STOP calling Bill Clinton the "first Black president" and remember that this was the SAME man whose administration debated the definition of the word "holocaust" as an excuse to pull troops out of Rwanda when we had the power to stop the atrocity that took place and save MILLIONS of lives.

Fabulous recap. Glad you got Bro. Jelani in there. He is a phenom, you're right. I had it on from work via video stream so I missed much of it as well. What I find interesting is that people got up in arms about the political content of what Lowery and Carter said, but totally missed the political nature of Maya Angelou's remarks. And fwiw, I don't think what they said was in poor taste. They spoke truth to power, as they always have. As for Teddy Kennedy, his brother eulogized Martin; it was only fitting to have him speak.